


Motherly Influence

by Fangirlwriting



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Late Night Conversations, Motherly Katara, Season/Series 02 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:40:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24722434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlwriting/pseuds/Fangirlwriting
Summary: Katara has a conversation with Toph while fleeing the Earth Kingdom and learns what happened with her mother.
Relationships: Toph Beifong & Katara
Comments: 4
Kudos: 52





	Motherly Influence

**Author's Note:**

> I, like everyone else right now, am rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender, and I finished Season 2. I realized no one ever talks about the fact that Toph thought she was going to talk to her mother in the season finale, and that probably affected her a little bit, so I wrote this.

The sky bison was quiet as it soared through the air. Even the Earth King, who seemed loud and somewhat goofy from what little Katara knew of him, seemed to understand the fear and gravity of the situation, and remained silent.

Katara finally let go of Aang, setting him down on one of the sleeping bags. She made sure he was breathing, which she was sure she would do several more times throughout the night, before moving over next to Toph to stare out at the clouds.

There was a cloud off to the left that was fluffier than the ones around it. Katara checked their diminished water supply, small after weeks of being on the ground and needing to worry about its levels. The cloud was too far away for her to bend without Aang to fly up himself and do it. She was about to go get Sokka, who was flying Appa at the moment, and tell him to fly them closer when she heard sniffling coming from next to her.

She glanced over to see Toph wiping at her eyes, which was more than a little surprising. Normally she wasn’t one to show emotion so openly.

Katara turned to face her. “Aang is going to be fine, Toph,” she said quietly.

Toph sniffed again. “I know,” she said quietly. “That’s not why I’m upset.”

“Oh,” Katara said. They were both quiet again as Katara took a moment to try and assess the situation. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

Toph said nothing for a long enough period of time that Katara was going to let it go and check on Aang. But before she could move, Toph said, quietly, “I can bend metal.”

Katara thought she misheard her. “I’m sorry?”

“Metal. I bent it. I found the earth inside of it, and I bent it.”

“Toph, that’s… amazing. How did you find that out?”

“It wasn’t my mom,” Toph whispered. “She didn’t want to see me.”

It took Katara a moment to put the pieces of her statement together, and her heart broke when she did. “Toph,” she started.

“They don’t love me,” Toph said determidley. “They can’t.”

“Toph, I’m sure they do,” Katara said, moving over to sit next to her. “They just don’t understand.”

“It’s the same thing. They love who they want me to be. They don’t see who I really am.” Toph sniffed again. “Why can’t they just try, Katara?”

Katara didn’t have a good answer for that. Her mother had always loved her. Katara was certain that if her mother was alive today, she would be proud of her and all she’d done. She had never felt the need to hide who she was from her mother. She might have been a kid, but Katara was almost certain that wouldn’t have changed. Toph had never had that luxury.

In the end, Katara didn’t say anything, instead choosing to wrap her arms around Toph’s shoulders and hold her close. Toph didn’t lean into the hug, but she didn’t push Katara away either.

Eventually, Katara got the sense that Toph was starting to be a little uncomfortable, so she let go of her. “I’m going to check on Aang,” she said softly. “I’m here if you still want to talk.”

Toph was silent as Katara stood, but as she started over to where Aang was lying, she heard Toph’s quiet whisper of “Thank you.”

She decided not to comment.


End file.
